Powder Ridge proposal not dead yet

MIDDLEFIELD -- Powder Ridge President Ken Leavitt hinted on Thursday a deal with the town to buy resort land is not dead.

JOHN CHRISTIE

Published 12:00 am, Friday, September 27, 2002

The future of any new deal and the resort itself has been left up in the air with the Board of Finance's 4-1 vote on Tuesday against a $4 million proposal to buy 273 acres of Powder Ridge land and then lease it back to Leavitt's company, Whitewater Mountain Resorts Inc.

An ad hoc committee recommended the plan as a way to keep Whitewater from selling the resort's land to developers to solve its financial problems.

Leavitt, though, hinted there are still avenues left for the town and Whitewater to explore.

"We have a lot of interesting options," Leavitt said. "Beyond that I can't comment."

First Selectman Charles Augur said he has discussed with Leavitt the possibility of the town purchasing development rights to the land from Whitewater.

"I'm optimistic," Augur said. "I don't know how much of the land we can buy the development rights to, but I'd like to get the whole thing."

Leavitt would not comment on the likelihood of Powder Ridge opening for ski season this year.

Part of the push to approve the original plan was to get the company enough working capital so it could get up and running for this season.

Augur said, based on his discussions with Leavitt, that Powder Ridge has every intention of opening.

"Ken told me he will open come hell or high water and honor his commitments to customers with season passes," Augur said.

After voting down the proposal on Tuesday, the Board of Finance unanimously endorsed creating a joint Board of Selectmen/Board of Finance committee charged with restarting negotiations with Leavitt.

Such a committee, according to the charter, would need to be formed by the Board of Selectmen.

Augur said Thursday he did not know yet when the committee would be formed.

Board of Finance Chairman Peter Brown said, though many board members were uncomfortable with the former proposal, the board does want the town to pursue other options with Whitewater.

"The end result of our discussions was that we thought the deal was too generous to the company," he said. "But we did not want to leave the Board of Selectmen hanging."

Brown said most likely Board of Finance members will attend the next Board of Selectmen meeting to formally ask for the creation of the joint committee.